Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta preview battle report

This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

This past weekend, everyone who volunteers to test out Microsoft’s Xbox One updates before release were treated to a taste of the multiplayer beta for Halo 5: Guardians. Instead of access to the full beta that will be granted on December 29th to everyone who ordered the Master Chief Collection, the preview group only had access to two levels and some of the abilities and weapons that are planned for the full beta release. Having spent most of the weekend with my Xbox One controller in hand, it’s not hard to say that hardcore Halo fans have a lot to look forward to after Christmas.

As the “next-gen” Halo, there’s probably some expectation for Guardians to have its own visual flare. We saw some of the not-so-subtle efforts 343 made towards realism in Halo 4, as well as the new cinematics for the remake of Halo 2 in the Master Chief Collection, so for the most part this is to be expected. Things glow a little more than they used to, but everything looks as you’d expect in a Halo game. The one thing that stood out as particularly different was the energy sword on the Covenant map, but when you pick it up you see that it’s no ordinary energy sword. For whatever reason, which I’m sure will become more clear in the actual story for Halo 5, this sword is called Prophet’s Bane and is somehow special.

Whether it’s a result of the beta not being quite finished or one of the many changes in the gameplay style for Halo 5, very few of the melee attacks offered that satisfying lunge component. As something that has been a part of this franchise since Halo 2 — especially with the energy swords — it’d be a shame to see that ability go. Throughout the entire weekend, however, it felt like neither my physical attacks nor those dealt to me included that automatic forward lunge.

A potentially significant reason for this shift in gameplay is the new abilities in the Spartan armor. This new generation of armor comes with thrusters that allow you to slam your body in any direction, which is particularly useful if you want to dodge a grenade or a melee attack. If you’re aware of your surroundings, this new ability is easily the best new feature to the game, wildly surpassing the Covenant Elite dodge roll that has been a part of the Halo fan must-have list ever since the first game.

These Spartan abilities aren’t limited to dodging, either. If you time it right, you can slam your body forward with enough force to effectively shoulder tackle your opponent to death. This requires a decent bit of precision and a clear line of sight to run in, but pulling it off can be devastating. Of course, if you’re feeling particularly skilled, you can try a variant of this ability from the air.

This aerial smash is hard to control, and makes it even harder to survive on the maps that were available in this preview. More often than not, the player who decided to jump off of a high point to attempt this maneuver found themselves being shot at from at least one angle before making it to the ground. Also, since you basically can’t reposition yourself after starting the attack, if your opponent moves or leaves a grenade where you’ll land, survival isn’t guaranteed.

Speaking of grenades, the efforts in Halo 5 so far take quite a bit to get used to. The standard frag grenades are thrown at exactly one speed, and they bounce hard off of almost everything. It’s great for hitting something at a distance, but your chances of hitting your mark in a small doorway seems a great deal more difficult than previous games’ iterations, including 343’s Halo 4. The plasma grenade, on the other hand, still functions mostly like a plasma grenade. The only new challenge with these is the added glow, as your plasma grenade is now a much larger target for those who excel at shooting them out of the air.

Ultimately, I found the gameplay to be almost exactly what I’ve come to expect from Halo. There are a lot of little changes, especially to things like climbing up on platforms, but once I adjusted to the gameplay tweaks this whole experience felt like I was playing Halo 4.1. It’s still way too early to judge the game or gameplay, especially since the preview didn’t even grant access to every part of the experience, but with the massive surge forward in future physics and pseudoscience concepts we’ve seen with Destiny and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, this preview lacked the feeling that I was playing something shiny and new. This is great for hardcore Halo fans, but the final version of Halo 5: Guardians needs to appeal to more than just people who want their next dose of Master Chief.

But hey, at least there were some funny bugs to giggle at. For example, this twitchy Spartan that figured out he was supposed to be dead after I shot his corpse again.

Or this explodey barrel, who was honestly just really happy to be here.